Alanoud Al Hashmi is the CEO of the Futurist Company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a company inspired by the nation's need to tackle its agricultural challenges with out-of-the-box innovations. In fact, Al Hashmi is well known for her belief in innovation and technology, and providing solutions through her team of scientists, engineers, and technologists. In addition, she is also a member of the Young Arab Leaders.
Al Hashmi completed her studies on Digital Transformation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Sloan School of Management in 2018, and on Customer Driven Marketing at the Wharton School that same year. Currently, she's studying for her Global MBA in General Business Administration and Management at University of Manchester, which is expected to be completed by April 2022.
Since 2008, Al Hashmi has built an extensive career working on management and leadership roles at various companies. In 2021, however, she would find herself launching her own company: The Futurist Company. It was inspired by His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and his willingness to face all odds of promoting agriculture in the early days of the UAE. The company works on "future-facing" projects while providing tools and techniques to its clients.
Simply, The Futurist Company hopes to tackle food security in the future in the UAE and globally. It is helping farmers grow food in otherwise unfavorable terrains, in addition to tackling challenges such as global warming and imbalance in the ecosystem. In fact, amongst the challenges facing the UAE is food insecurity, an issue that, if left unresolved, would have been more catastrophic by the next half a century as the company has concluded.
In an interview with aeworld.com, Al Hashmi faced her initial challenge of running a company in an otherwise male-dominated industry, but she would soon find herself receiving support from men eventually. Hence, her biggest problem would end up being her company's ability to provide solutions that can tackle future issues, or "future-facing."
Undoubtedly, Al Hashmi's contributions wouldn't go unrecognized. In the fourth quarter of 2021 Bentley Motors launched the Bentley Extraordinary Women Initiative, which sought to empower a new generation of female entrepreneurs. Al Hashmi was one of several women from across the region to support the initiative.
For 2022, Al Hashmi is working to launch GAIA, food security agriculture technology aggrotech solutions aimed at tackling 13 of 17 of the United Nations’ SDG sustainable development goals. In addition, she will be taking part in "Operation 300 Billion," strategies for developing the manufacturing sector in the UAE.
